TxDOT alternatives could save Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center would not be impacted under four recommended alternatives for the Interstate 10 Connect Project that were presented by Texas Department of Transportation officials at a recent meeting for stakeholders.(Photo: RUBEN R. RAMIREZ / EL PASO TIMES)Buy Photo

The embattled Lincoln Center would not have to be demolished under any of the four recommended alternatives for the I-10 Connect Project that a Texas Department of Transportation consultant recently presented at a meeting.

Last year, the center beneath the Spaghetti Bowl came close to being demolished by TxDOT before all the studies and required environmental reviews were finished.

Advocates who want to save the building for its historical value and resume community cultural events at the center welcomed the new development.

“It’s a complete turnaround. This is the first time they’ve actually stated that there’s no need to demolish the building,” said Hector Gonzalez, president of the Lincoln Center Conservation Committee, who viewed the presentation at the Nov. 9 TxDOT meeting for stakeholders.

“Apparently, TxDOT did listen, and they came back with better solutions,” Gonzalez said. “It’s been a long journey, but we will continue our work to save the center and to have it open to the community.”

Blanca Del Valle, spokeswoman for the TxDOT-El Paso district office, said details about I-10 Connect Project will be forthcoming this week.

State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, who learned about the new alternatives for the proposed connections from Interstate 10 to Loop 375 before the Nov. 9 meeting, said he wasn’t surprised that TxDOT managed to find solutions for the project that would not impact the center.

However, he cautioned, “It’s not a done deal yet.”

In a Nov. 6 letter to TxDOT Executive Director J.F. Weber, Pickett said he understood that the four new alternatives would become common knowledge by Nov. 9, and that TxDOT would summarize the information as follows:

“Eleven alternatives are being evaluated but based on technical merit, constructability, and feasibility, it appears as we continue the process, we will be advancing four of these to determine the preferred alternative for development.

“Subject to completion of the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process, final design, and construction, it is likely none of these alternatives will have a physical impact on the Lincoln Center,” according to the Pickett letter.

Pickett also said in the letter that the city of El Paso is the most likely entity that could enter into a lease with TxDOT to make the center available to the community.

“Since it is likely none of these (alternatives) will have a physical impact on the Lincoln Center,” Pickett said in the letter, “which should have a tremendous positive impact on those who are trying to save it for cultural, historic and future use, I request we begin working on this issue now!”

A spokesperson for the city was unavailable Friday for comment.

TxDOT is seeking to build a bridge to connect I-10 to U.S. 54 and the César Chávez Border Highway. In defense of its earlier plans for demolition, the state agency argued that the new connections would create a safety issue.

Pickett said the safety issue was raised late in the stage of the process and did not reflect the Spaghetti Bowl’s long history.

The Lincoln Center, 4001 Durazno, is more than 100 years old. The first school for minorities in El Paso was housed in the building. In 1969, TxDOT became the owner and leased it to the city, which used it as a community center between the 1970s and 2006.

In 2013, the El Paso City Council passed a resolution supporting the preservation efforts for the center. In May 2014, the City Council sued TxDOT to stop the demolition. The city dropped the suit later in exchange for a promise by the state agency to delay demolition.

TxDOT’s Weber extended the delay indefinitely.

“It is heartening and humbling to see a group of citizens initially question a decision made by a strong and powerful governmental entity and to dare to ask why,” said Hector Gutierrez, another advocate for saving the center.

“A decision to hastily tear down a historic building was questionable when all the alternatives to connect I-10 to Loop 375 and the border highway had not been fully explored and vetted by TxDOT,” he said.

Preservationists and other advocates said that key leaders who had a role in fending off efforts to raze the center included the El Paso City Council; Mayor Oscar Leeser; state Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso; U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso; Pickett; and Weber.

Guillermo Glenn, a member of the Familias Unidas del Chamizal Neighborhood Association, also attended the Nov. 9 meeting. He said it’s good that the center might be saved after all, but bemoans that some of the Chicano art murals at the Lincoln Center Park could be lost under one of the alternatives.

Miguel Juarez, who also serves on the Lincoln Conservation Committee, said the effort to save the center will gain strength if official historical status is obtained.

“The Nov. 9 presentation was very encouraging,” Juarez said. “The TXDOT consultant mentioned how they went from 11 alternatives and worked their way down to the four that are now the recommended alternatives for the connections. We need for local officials to appreciate the historical value of the center.”

Max Grossman, vice chairman of the El Paso County Historical Commission, previously has said that an independent expert’s evaluation had determined that after all these years the Lincoln Center is structurally sound.

“I'm glad that TxDOT has come up with some alternative plans that make sense,” Grossman said. “The building may be nominated as an RTHL (Registered Texas Historic Landmark) and/or a National Registry Landmark. The process takes over a year. The (city of El Paso) has its own local overlay as well.”

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at 546-6140; dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; @eptimesdiana on Twitter.

Guillermo Glenn, center left, talks with officers after protesters stopped workers from moving a section of chain-link fence, which was being positioned on the perimeter of the Lincoln Center Tuesday. TIMES FILE PHOTO

Rosemary Martinez embraced an emotional Mona Juarez of the Save the Lincoln Center Conservation Committee after City Council voted to make every effort necessary to stop the demolition of the center. TIMES FILE PHOTO